Tell us a little bit about your store? What's the vibe?

We have such a great range of customers at Blast and we love that! Indie music is popular here but so is Rock, R&B, Reggae, Pop pretty much anything! We do have a special love here for The Prodigy being that they came from the town, we also have a lot of love for Missing Andy who are another local band - Our director Mike played football with Alex Greaves the bands front man! The shop is all about fun and enjoyment as a collector, music lover, comic fan we amalgamate so many worlds into our one shop and it’s great to see the age range for record collectors now with a huge variation as so many youngsters are taking the older generations lead and LOVING vinyl! We are a very family run team as well! Richard and Mike are father and son and our two directors, our shop manager is me, Charlie and I’m Mike’s husband and then our other team member is Leanne who is my cousin so we like to keep it family run which I think makes the atmosphere so good here!

Can you remember the first record you sold in the shop? And the last?

Corr! That is a really hard question! I can remember some of the most popular albums! Ed Sheeran - Divide sold out in under an hour and we had over ordered on that! Rag N Bone Man - Human was a similar story! Recently it’s obviously been Adele but our following for rock and heavy metal has really taken off recently with Judas Priest a big seller!

Do you remember the first record shop you went to? And you do you remember the first record you bought?

For me I joined Blast around 6 years ago, and that was a mind blowing entrance for me! I didn’t realize just how incredible this world was and now I LOVE collecting as well - being here is dangerous at times! I think other than that Rough Trade were the first place I really visited as well as record stalls at Camden and Spitalfields!

What is your favourite record shop (apart from your own!) and why?

Ours OBVIOUSLY! Other than us I do really love Intense Records in Chelmsford who have a great range of genres and just a really cool indie vibe! We all love Rough Trade too obviously but who doesn’t!

What’s your most memorable record store experience?

Record Store Day, it just reminds me every year how loyal our customers are and I will never tire of seeing the huge queue when I arrive for work on RSD morning! We always have such a laugh with our customers and am so glad we are a part of it each year!

What's the best gig you've ever been to?

Record Store Day is a game changer for us as a small business you rely on these one off days to change the fortunes of a store! RSD has brought us in new customers and continues to do so every year!

What's your all-time favourite book?

What a question! I would say Halsey - she was absolutely incredible on her Fountains tour!

What's your all-time favourite film?

Ah reading, for me this changes month on month for me but recently would be Tom Daley’s new book Coming Up For Air - it’s a real inspiration story!

What would make up your desert island discs?

If anyone answers without a Marvel film I am judging although now I’ve said that I don’t know which to pick!!! Can I just have all 27? I mean it has to be Endgame or Spider-Man: No Way Home!

Who would form your all-time Festival line-up? (past & present)

So I am definitely taking Tom Daley’s book, my luxury is my working phone (I’d die without it!), the eight tracks is always hard but I think I’d go with; Halsey - Colors, The 1975 - Robbers, Peter Gabriel - The Book of Love, Shape of You - Ed Sheeran, Ironic - Alanis Morrisette, Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way, Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody and P!nk - Dear Mr President (Yes I know that’s a MASSIVE Variation! My music taste is always described as unique!)

What's your all-time favourite record?

Great question! I think I would go with (based on what I’ve seen already a little and what I would have been desperate to see!) Little Mix, Stormzy, P!nk, Michael Jackson and Freddie’s QUEEN!!!

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